5: Umbro

Mixing music and football is risky business however Umbro did it with a wink to its audience.

With help from agency LOVE, the sports apparel brand created an English football anthem without mentioning the tournament, teams, players or any trademarks once. YouTube musician Brett Domino helped bring the idea to life.

6: Wish

Know how the top players are spending their down-time? Shopping and one-upmanship apparently, as Pogba, Bale, Neymar and more all pitched in to create some sleek sponsored videos to promote ecommerce app Wish.

The brand partnered with top players, especially those not at the tournament, to drive traffic to its app without particularly leaning on the allure of the World Cup.

The work was heavily seeded on paid social media. Welshman Bale, one of the best players not attending the tournament, apparently learned how to become a master barber.

Included in the campaign were Tim Howard (USA), Bale (Wales), Robin Van Persie (Holland), Claudio Bravo (Chile) and Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), in addition to Neymar (Brazil) and Paul Pogba (France) who are both playing in the tournament.

7: UberEats

?UberEats elected to run a similar global campaign. It leaned on playmaker Pirlo who is distraught at the absence of Italy. In response he picked a new national team to support.

The work from Pitch helped underline that UberEats delivers McDonald's produce now, and saw the Italian try to cheer for a few sides at the tournament.

It is running globally and looks to boost football fan engagement in key international markets.

Never capped at a major tournament, Bullard playfully mocks never making it on the biggest stage by hoovering, playing late-night table football and doing a bit of DIY while the Three Lions give it their best shot in Russia.

Tony Holdway, sales and marketing director at Domino’s Pizza Group, said: “Who better to represent the true spirit of watching the football from the comfort of your own home, than with Jimmy Bullard, one of the best players to never play for England. What Jimmy lacks in national team caps he more than makes up for in his ability to deliver deadpan lines to camera and laugh at himself in the process.

9: Paddy Power

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power makes it its business to stand out at any sporting event, and this year it excelled itself with a polar bear stunt and its support of LGBT causes – to troll Russia.

First, it leaked supposedly ‘live’ footage of a Russian polar bear being emblazoned with an England flag. It also announced the move with a full-on newspaper wrap in The Metro. The ad read England ‘til I dye.

Not content with riling just one nation, Paddy Power also mocked Russian LGBT propaganda laws by donating ￡10K to charity for each goal scored by the nation in support of Attitude magazine‘s Foundation.

The Failures

Ambush marketing is a risky proposition and brands are always at risk of scoring an own goal. Here are some campaigns that did not quite pan out.

So far, they've scored much fewer goals than experts would have predicted meaning that the campaign would have fallen flat even if it hadn't already angered the public.

Football writer Henry Winter and former England striker Ian Wright were among those who criticised the gesture.

Some wondered why Mastercard didn't just feed the hungry children anyway. Official World Cup sponsor Visa would have been watching this implosion closely.

Lufthansa

German airline Lufthansa had to apologise for filming its World Cup promotion in Ukraine, Kiev, instead of Moscow. The ad showed two enthusiastic German fans trying to make the most of their time in 'Moscow'.

Relations between the countries are at an all-time low after Russian president Vladimir Putin recently said there are “no conditions” that would see occupied Crimea returned to Ukraine, fanning the controversy.

The airline said the ad was shot in Kiev for “logistical reasons”.

Lessons from the past

Some ambush cases studies from previous tournaments are worth revisiting.

Furthermore, a series of Adidas ads where the star bares his teeth became the competition's hottest experiential marketing spot. Fans would line up for a bite selfie before the apparel brand took down the buy.

Paddy Power

The Irish bookmaker has made a name for itself being mischievous, loud, even crass at times. Four years ago in Brazil, it 'shaved' the rainforest to offer support to England.

The prank was revealed as a campaign to raise awareness of deforestation - but first the bookie was dragged through the mud by those shocked at the stunt.

Beats

Beats found a way to tie into the 2014 (and 2018) tournaments by focusing on the pre-match music routines of the players in the campaign the Game Before The Game.

To the casual observer, Neymar was warming up before the World Cup. Of course, there is not a Brazil jersey or Fifa branding in sight in this clever and powerful campaign.

Volkswagen

At some point in its long and illustrious history, someone working with Volkswagen realised Goaaaaaaal is phonetically similar to Gooooooolllll-f.

As a result, with minimal effort the brand leveraged social, Oreo Dunk In The Dark style to get people thinking about its Golf hatchbacks in 2014.